Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 171176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171176 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 856(@200wpm)___ 685(@250wpm)___ 571(@300wpm)
In the end, and with the dragons hovering over me like a bunch of nervous mamas, I’d found the right balance between pressure and heat and cracked the secret of the crowded Everlass plant, something they grew in such a way that it was very potent and thus very dangerous.
They could’ve spared me a lot of fucking time by mentioning that up front.
They hadn’t felt comfortable with my recipe, worried that if I didn’t do it exactly right, I’d kill myself or someone else. They worried doubly so for anyone else who might try to re-create it.
It had been a good point.
I’d backed off the potency of the Everlass, a little too crazy under duress—much like dragons, actually—and given the Moonfire Lily its first chance to shine.
And shine it did.
I picked it at night, because Arleth and Delaney had read somewhere that it popped up in places where wolves roamed, much like the way Everlass grew near dragons, and they believed it would be stronger and more potent when picked within the glow of its namesake. I made them gasp the next morning when I lit it on fire.
“It’s a simple plant,” I told them, breathing in the heavenly aroma of its perfume. “Its favorite things are in the name.”
The addition of the Moonfire Lily to the mix had worked just right. Perfectly, actually, on the first try. Easy to work with, like wolves. The final concoction was even pink! Not so bright as Granny’s crap, but still really pretty.
It wouldn’t only work on Granny’s product, either. They tried it on someone with food poisoning, and it had worked like a dream. It didn’t have to be made as needed or heated in order to use it. All you had to do was store it in a cool, dry place and it would last for . . . some length of time I had yet to determine.
Addiction? Sickness? Problems solved. The relief I felt at having made something to counteract the coating eased something inside me. It eased the burden of guilt I’d been carrying since I learned the truth about Granny and her organization.
Feeling emboldened, I added, “Do you know what else will solve the problem? Scraping off the fucking coating. That’s all anyone has to do. Spread the word and there you go.”
They hadn’t appreciated my candor, apparently. Or Vemar’s laughing.
Goal achieved, and glowing from Weston telling me how proud he was of me, I now had time to take all I’d learned and really play with things. I had a whole list of stuff I wanted to try using the Everlass and the Moonfire Lily and the dangle root and some sweet flower that tasted really good and smelled even better.
“Aurelia—” Finley, finding me in the work shed surrounded by a dozen contraptions and with tubs and bowls and finished product ready to be tested, stopped dead in her tracks in the doorway.
“I can explain,” I said quickly, my hands out, knowing I was not supposed to have woken up before dawn, and was definitely supposed to have stopped working hours ago.
She was afraid of burnout. I was afraid of the drug I’d tested earlier, the one that was supposed to give a burst of energy and instead was making me zoom around, jittery. I was working too fast and was high as a motherfucker. I needed to take the Moonfire Lily out of this one.
She looked over my workstation, noticing which plants I was using, the things I’d finished, and the chunk taken out of the sheet in the container labeled Test.
Vemar was right—I needed to stop labeling things.
“That creation, whatever it is, is denied,” she said smoothly.
“But.” I held up a finger, then launched into a very long-winded explanation about nothing relevant while looking in random places around the room and occasionally laughing for no reason.
She watched me silently, waited for me to finish, and said, “Was that an argument or you agreeing with me?”
“That question is a test, isn’t it?” I nodded too fast and too much. “Agreeing. Did you need something?”
“Rid that stuff from your mind. We have something we need to do, and then I am going to force-feed you your sleep aid so that you will stop working. This is getting ridiculous, Aurelia. You cannot keep up this pace. I’ve let you extend your hours a bit because you showed no signs of fatigue, but eventually you will crash. Also, where is your protection? Where’s Vemar?”
“I wouldn’t let him try this product, and he did, indeed, crash. I’m good, though. I used to work from dawn until dusk, then cook, then do my art or read or—”
I held up a finger to pause myself, then my other pointer finger . . . then started drumming them against the edges of the table in a too-fast rhythm. My foot got going and my body followed, bobbing along to a beat that was probably so erratic it matched the pace of my heart.